AKA: Artic Root, Aarons rod, Rose Root, Golden root, hong jing tian, Rhodiola

The rhodiola plant is a member of the Crassulaceae family and can be found growing in the cold, mountainous regions of the world like the Arctic, the mountains of Central Asia, Rocky Mountains, The Alps, Scandinavia, Iceland and the Pyrenees. The plant is dioecious and grows 5 to 35 cm in height, with several shoots growing out of the same thick root.

History

• Documented by the Greek physician, Dioscorides in 77 A.D. in his De Materia Medica
• Vikings used it for its ability to enhance strength and endurance.
• Chinese Emperors sent expeditions to Siberia to bring back "the golden root" (hong jing tian)for medicinal purposes.
• Brewed as a tea in central Asia to combat flu and cold.
• Prescribed by Mongolian Physician to combat tuberculosis and cancer
• Researched by the Soviets inthier race to compete with West in science and medicine.
• Remains a popular traditional medicine in Eastern Europe and Asia where it is used to treat depression, fatigue, high altitude sickness and to stimulate the nervous system.
• Used in Scandinavia to combat winter depression.

Benefits and Uses

• Adaptogenic
• Antidepressant
• Antioxidant
• Heart health
• Cancer prevention
• Slows Ageing
• Improved hearing
• Regulate blood sugars
• Weight reduction
• Enhance thyroid production
• Improves erectile dysfunction/ premature ejaculation
• Normalizes prostatic fluid

Adaptogen

An adaptogen is a natural substance that helps increase resistance to stress and  normalize bodily functions. Consuming an adaptogen during a stressful situation helps you buildup a degree of resistance that allows your physiology to handle stressful situations more effectively.  Apaptogens are thought to work by enabling your cells to use fuel in a more efficient manner.  Rhoddiola rosea has proven to by a potent adaptogen that appears to impact the imbalanced levels of monoamines in the central nervous system. This ability allows it to help elevate a person’s mood, making it a important remedy for depression, seasonal affective disorder, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and it has even shown promise for schizophrenia.

Rhodiola’s adaptogenic properties also give the plant great therapeutic value in cases of declined work performance, sleep disturbances, poor appetite, irritability, hypertension, headaches and fatigue. Research has also showed promise for the medicnal value of the plant in times of intense physical stress, intellectual strain, influenza and other viral related illnesses.
Recovery and memory

Taking rhodiola after a prolonged workout has been shown to shorten recovery time, increasing the levelof enzymes, RNA and proteins that are important to the recovery process in muscles. It has also shown to increase energy, elevate glycogen synthesis and muscle protein synthesis and encourage anabolic activity.

Rhodiola has also shown to help improve memory and mental performance in a study of forty students who were given 50 mg of standardized rhodiola extract twice a day for 20 days.  The students who were given the extract showed significant reductions in mental fatigue, moodiness, and were more motivated in their studying and displayed an 1 percent overall improvement in their exam scores over the students that were given the placebo.

Heart Health

Since it reduces overall stress by decreasing the amount of catecholamines and corticosteroids released by the adrenal glands, Rhodiola has been shown to be effective in reducing heart problems that are caused by stressful conditions. It also helps regulate the heart beat and counteract arrhythmia by decreasing the amount of cyclic-AMP released in cardiac cells (C-AMP assists in the uptake of intercellular calcium promoting heart muscle contraction). Rhodiola is also found to decrease the amount of harmful blood lipids, decreasing the risk of heart disease.

Cancer

By increasing the body’s resistance to toxins, Rhodiola has shown to be an effective anti-cancer agent. The root also contains several known antioxidant compounds which helps stops free radicals from wreaking havoc on the body keeping cancer at bay. Russian researchers have conducted studies on rats that show that  Rhodiola  inhibited tumour growth by 39% and decreased metastasis by 50%.

Immune Boost

By reinstating metabolic balance, rhodiola helps to stimulate and protect the immune system. It also increases the presence on natural killer cells in the stomach and spleen.

Depression

Rhodiola increases the serotonin levels in the brain helping regulate body temperature, appetite, pain perception, blood pressure, respiration and smooth muscle contraction. This has made the herb very useful in Northern Europe where seasonal affective disorder (SAD) causes severe depression during the long winter months.

Side effects

• May increase blood pressure
• May thin blood (consult doctor if you are taking blood thinning medications or vitamin E supplements)
• May cause excitability, feverish states and hypertension in some people
• Use under supervision if you experience coronary spasms or arterial pressure fluctuations
• Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding and children under the age of ten should not use Rhodiola until the herb is studied further.

coming soon....